Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who has completed at least five years of extra training in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and emotional disturbances, using a medical approach. A psychiatrist who specialises in child and adolescent issues completes at least two years of training specific to children during this time.

Child psychiatrists diagnose and treat conditions such as severe conduct disorder (aggressive, acting out behaviour), depression, severe anxiety and schizophrenia (psychosis). They can treat the effects of emotional problems on the whole body as well as the effects of physical illness on the mind.

The treatment approaches used by psychiatrists vary but may involve parent counselling, child therapy (playing and talking about problems and feelings), medication (for example, antidepressants) or a combination of these.

Your general practitioner can refer your child to a psychiatrist.

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